I cocked an eyebrow and crossed my arms, silently challenging him to be a dick about this.
He snagged me, tucking me against his chest. I fought the sudden leap in my pulse. In the last couple of days, Mindy had gotten even more physically affectionate, if that was possible. I hadn’t remarked on it, because I liked it. Touch had never been important to me, even as a kid, but it was different with him. I liked the feel of his scales on my skin, the warmth that radiated off him, and how I fit within his embrace.
This, regardless of my wild attraction to him, would go nowhere. Serlotminden was taken, and it was fine. We were friends, as he’d reiterated many,manytimes. Fuck him.
“Fine,” he said, thumb brushing the edge of my jaw and resting right in front of my ear lobe. Mindy smiled, head lowering, and my stomach dropped. God, was he going to kiss me? Did I want him to? I almost snorted. Of course I did. I silently urged him to keep coming closer and closer until his lips were on mine.
He stopped, not touching me but close. His breath rushed over my skin as he said, “I will find you something tasty to eat.”
I grunted. He was the one that was getting tired of the nutritional bars. I didn’t think they were that bad. They were way better than the chalk Agk had fed me and Vince.
Serlotminden straightened, making me frown, and ran his fingers over my cheeks. He seemed fascinated with my beard—if you could call the patchy growth that. I’d never been able to grow a proper beard or mustache, so I usually shaved it. That wasn’t an option at the moment. But it didn’t matter that there wasn’t much hair, he loved touching and rubbing his fingers over it. The hair on my head was also growing again, which he played with all the time.
“I would rather you stay here,” he said in a low voice, his tail curling around my leg.
His prehensile tail was a curiosity to me. I loved him holding me, dragging the length over my skin, and tickling me with it. But I couldn’t help but wonder how it might feel wrapped around my dick. Could he do that? How would the scales and warmth feel? I shook the thought away. My attraction to Serlotminden was getting out of control.
Being this interested in sex was unusual, for me at least, but I admitted it was more than that. I craved a closeness with him along with sex. I wasn’t going to get either, so I needed to calm the fuck down.
“I’m coming.”
Mindy stared at me, and I crossed my arms, daring him to argue. I could be stubborn when I wanted to be. I wasn’t being left behind. We were going together or not at all. Besides, he’d agreed to me coming.
“Please stay close to me, my Teddy. I wouldn’t survive something happening to you.”
That was oddly dramatic. Sure, he liked me, but if I died that didn’t mean he’d stop breathing. Me? I would have a much harder time, because I couldn’t fix anything on the shuttle or melt water or find food when I eventually needed it.
I grunted again. That seemed to be enough for him, because he moved in front of me and pulled the lever, opening the hatch.
The day was clear, and the area looked the same as yesterday. I automatically peered at the ginormous nests. I was ready to duck or haul ass back to the shuttle if I saw even a flash of feathers. Though in reality, I’d probably freeze like a deer in headlights, and Serlotminden would have to drag me inside. Hopefully, those car-sized nests would be completely empty and nothing would happen.
But winter might be ending, and they might come back. Perish the thought.
Our feet sank into the snow as we moved across the landscape. It took maybe a couple dozen steps before I was panting and covered in sweat. My heart pounded, and my lungs burned. I was still weak, despite Mindy’s insistence I “play” with him on almost a daily basis, and tramping through the snow was hard work.
He grabbed my elbow, and his tail coiled around my leg. “You should go back.”
“I’m fine,” I panted. If he thought I was going to leave him out here alone, he was a fool. I wasn’t going to sit on the hatch door like normal while he was off hunting… at least not the first time.
The trees grew closer and closer. Their icy blue fronds moved without any wind. Independently moving plants were in no way a good thing, but Mindy didn’t act bothered. Maybe moving plants was normal to him. Who knew what was out there in the universe? Not me. But they freaked me out, and I didn’t want to go near them—something Serlotminden didn’t agree with, because he led us straight toward them.
When we got closer, I noticed the trees weren’t solid blue. They had gray stripes, like that four-armed alien I’d seen. A few bushes with wiry branches grew around the tree trunks. It was warmer beneath the trees, like a hot spring or something moved underground. The snow disappeared, leaving brown dirt with a purple tinge to it. What kind of nitrates had to be in the soil to make it purple?
Dead fronds, small leaves from the wiry bushes, and strips of dried bark littered the ground.
Mindy snatched a long piece of bark, picking at it with his claws. “This will burn well.”
“We have to catch something first.”
He grinned at me, showing off his canines. “I will catch something. I will provide for you.”
I didn’t need him to catch something, nor did I actually care, but he’d insisted. I kept an eye on the trees as we moved further into the jungle, attempting to move as quietly as possible, but that was hard. My feet found bark and twigs like no one’s business.
A rushing sound reached my ears, and my pulse skyrocketed. I knew what that was—I would know that sound anywhere. I darted forward.
“Bartholomew,” Mindy called after me, but I ignored him, bolting toward the low rushing. I broke through the trees, heedless of the branches scraping at my face and arms, and spotted a river of clear water.
The river cut through the trees, disappearing from sight. Tall trees and thick underbrush abutted the riverbank. There were a few clear spaces, letting me see the purple-brown dirt and rocks that looked like… normal gray rocks. I guessed rocks were rocks everywhere.
